Petrograd Soviet

The Petrograd Soviet was a city council that ruled Petrograd (St. Petersburg) from 12 March 1917 to 1924 during the Russian Revolution and the Russian Civil War. The soviet ruled Petrograd after the overthrow of the czar, and it would exist until it became a part of the Soviet Union in 1924.

The soviet was formed at the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoye Selo, the imperial palace, as a council of workers' and soldiers' deputies. The council was elected in Petrograd's factories and barracks, and it rivaled the new Russian Provisional Government after the overthrow of Czar Nicholas II of Russia. The soviet voted in favor of a "just peace" and sought links with German socialists, but the soviet was opposed to the militarism of the German Empire, and Joseph Stalin once wrote that "revolutionary soldiers and officers who have overthrown the yoke of tsarism" would not leave their trenches while German soldiers were "still obeying their emperor." The soviet called on soldiers to elect committees to represent their units and attacked Russian military practice, ending the requirement to call senior officers "your excellency."

The Provisional Government of Alexander Kerensky suppressed the popular disturbances during the "July Days" and cracked down on the Bolsheviks, but the Petrograd Soviet would return to power when Kerensky armed the factory workers and released the Bolshevik leaders to stop Lavr Kornilov's attempted coup. The soldiers of the Petrograd garrison mutinied after Kerensky attempted to send them to the front, and Vladimir Lenin would return to Petrograd. On 6 November 1917, the Military Revolutionary Committee seized key points in the city, including the train station, telephone exchange, and the post office. On 7 November, the Bolsheviks stormed the Winter Palace and proclaimed a government of People's Commissars, forming the Russian SFSR. In January 1918, Lenin closed down the Russian Constituent Assembly after just 13 hours of existing, as the Bolsheviks held just 175 of the 703 seats in the assembly. In 1924, the soviet joined the USSR.